Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-27

1 X
1t was thought, be terrified into comics
| sion of all they knew with regard to til
movements, conversations, and occups
tons of their older relatives and friends
General Strelnikoff's plan was to erres
simultaneously large number of person
belonging to the " untrustworthy" class
throw them into prison; keep them TO
ten days or two weeks in the strictes
solitary confinement, and then subjec
them to O terrifying inauislloria
examination with the hope of extortin,
scraps of Information, here little an,
there little, which might be pieced to-
gether, like the parts Of dissected map
SO as to reveal the outlines of reyolu
! tionsrv plot. II, for example, q young CIR
belonged TO an untrustworthy +" family
and suspicious" letter to her had beer
intercepted by the authorities; or if sht
had been seen coming out OF "suspi
cious" huose at g late hour in the evening
she was arrested in one Of these polics
| raids, generally st night; conveyed in {
close carriage to the Odessa prison: pu
into small solitary confinement cell enC
left to her own sgoniZing thoughts. NJ
explanation was given her of this summa-
~ proceeding, and if she appealed to the
sentinel On duty ia the corridor, the only
reply she obtained was "Prikazsno ne
gsvarit"-"Talking is forbidden" THE
erect produced upon 8 young,
inexperienced, impossible girl, BIZ
the overwhelming shock of such q
transition from the repoge, quiet, end Sc.
curity OF her own bedroom, in her own
home, to a narrow gloomy cell in com
mon Grim nal prison st night can readily
be Unsigned. Even if she were girl of
courage and frmness of character, her
self-control might give way under the
strain of such an ordeal The sounds
which break the stiffness of Russian
criminal prison at night-the stealtby
tread OF the guard; the family heard
cried and struggles OF drunken and dis
orderly ''casual'' who is being strapped
to his bed in another part of the prison,
cries which suggest to> an
inexperienced girl some rri-
bic scene of violence and outr se; the
occasional clang of heavy Goor; the
moaning and hystericsl weeping of other
recently arrested prisoners in cells On
the same corridor, and the sudden and
noiseless appearance now and then Of an
unknown human face st the little square
portfolio in the cell door through which
the prisoners are wetched-all combine
to make the first night Of a young girl in
prison an experience never to be forgot
ten while she lives. This experience,
however, is only the beginning of the
trial which her courage and self-control
are destined to undergo. One day passes
Two days-three deys-ten days with
out bringing any news from the outside
world or any information concerning the
nature of the charges made against her.
Twice every twenty-four hours food is
handed to her through the square port
hole by the tsciturn guard, but nothing
else breaks the monotony and the soil
tude OF her life. She has 10 books, no
writing materials, no means whstever of
diyertiDg her thoughts or re-
lieving the mental stain which
soon becomes almcss uncomfortable.
Tortured by apprehension and by
uncertainty as 10 her own fate and the
fate OF those dear to her, she can only
pace her cell from corner TO corner until
she is exhausted, and then throw herself
on the narrow prison-bed snd in sleep
try to lose consciousness of her misery.
At last, two weeks perhaps after her
arrest, when her spirit is supposed to be
sufficiently broken by solitary corfne-
ment and grief, she is summoned to the
dopros, & preliminary examination, with
out Witnesses or counsel, conducted by
General Strelnikof in person. He
begins by saying to her thst she IS
charged with very serious crimes under
such and such sections OF the penal co6e,
and that she stands in danger Of exile to
Siberia for a long term Of years. In
view, however, of her youth and mex
perience, ana Of the probability that she
has been misled by criminal associates,
he feels authorized to say to her that If
she will snow repentance, and q sincere
desire to reform, by making 'cristoser
dechni, '-'clean-hearted confessicn-and
will answer truthfuIly all questions put
to her, she will be Immediately released.
II, On the contrary, she manifests en- OBJ
durate disposition and thus proves her
self TO be unworthy of clemency, it will
become his duty, IS Prosecuting officer of
the crown, to treat her with all the rigor
Of the law"
The poor girl is well aware that the re-
ference to Siberian exile is not an empty
threat. Belonging as she does TO an Sun
family, she hes often heard
discussed the case of Marie Prisedski,
who was eXiled before she was sixteen
years of age because she would not be-
tray her older sister, and the case OF the
IyitcheVitch children, one seventeen and
the other fourteen years Of age, who
were arrested in kiev and sent to Siberia
in 1879 fer no particular reason except
that their two older brothers were revoIu-
tionists and had been shot dead while re-
sistlng arrest.
It is not matter OF surprise if young
girl who has thus been torn from her
home, who is depressed and disheartened
by solitary confinement, who is without
counsel, without knowledge Of the law,
without the support of G single friend in
this supreme crisis Of her life, breaks
down at last under the strain OF deadly
fear, and tells the inquisitor ell she |
knows. She is ct once released, but only |
TO suffer the agonies of self reproach ana |
remorse as she sees her relatives and |
dearest friends arrested, imprisoned, and |
exiled TO Siberia, upon information and |
clews which she herself has furnished. |
1t frequently happens, however, that C |
girl remains steadfsst and refuses TO an
3Wer questions, even after months Of |
solitary confinement. The authorities |
then resort to other and even more dis